In a widely cited review article on research on Latin American party organization, Steven Levitsky urged us more than ten years ago to develop more nuanced conceptual frameworks able to differentiate along various dimensions such as organizational density, level of institutionalization or degree of state penetration, while simultaneously conceding that such efforts are seriously constrained by the lack of data (2001: 106-7). A recent expert survey covering 18 Latin American countries administered by the Duke University & Catholic University of Chile (Democratic Accountability Expert Survey) covering organizational characteristics of more than 80 parties opens up the possibility to map out the diversity of party organization in Latin America across parties and across countries. This, in turn, allows cross-national comparative research to identify conditions that favour the adoption of particular party structures. By doing so, we examine the usefulness of conceptual tools – party models such as the catch-all or cartel party – initially developed for cross-national party research in Western Europe, tools that in Latin American studies have so far mainly been employed in qualitative work, if not rejected as inappropriate in the context of new democracies in the first place
